John Wayne's Relatives Fighting For Duke Trademark For Bourbon Release.

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Relatives of movie icon John Wayne have filed suit against officials at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina as part of a trademark battle over the actor's nickname 'The Duke'.

The two parties have been locked in a branding feud for almost a decade, but the legal fight heated up last year, when school bosses objected to Wayne's family applying to register 'Duke' for use in the liquor industry to produce a bourbon in the late actor's name.

Chiefs at John Wayne Enterprises have now taken the case to federal court, asking for a declaratory judgement giving them permission to use the Duke branding for bourbon, arguing, "Duke University is not and never has been in the business of producing, marketing, distributing, or selling alcohol.